Caroline Walker Bynum, FBA (born May 10, 1941, in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

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)Caroline Walker Bynum short CV
at

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

website (retrieved June 29, 2009). is a Medieval scholar from the

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. She is a University Professor ''emerita'' at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and Professor ''emerita'' of Western Medieval History at the

in Princeton, New Jersey. She was the first woman to be appointed University Professor at Columbia. She is former Dean of Columbia's School of General Studies, served as president of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

in 1996, and President of the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until ) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes the q ...

in 1997–1998.

Education and career

Bynum attended

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

before completing a bachelor's degree with high honors in history at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1962, and master's and doctoral degrees from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1969. Her honors include the

Jefferson Lecture The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is an honorary lecture series established in 1972 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). According to the NEH, the Lecture is "the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished ...

, a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

, and fourteen honorary degrees including degrees from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1992,

in 2005, the

and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 2007. She taught at Harvard University from 1969 to 1976, the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

from 1976 to 1988, Columbia University from 1988 to 2003, and the

from 2003 to 2011. In 2015, she was the Robert Janson-La Palme Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Art and Archaeology at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Thought

Bynum's work has focused on the way medieval people, especially women, understood the nature of the human body and its physicality in the context of larger theological questions and spiritual pursuits. Bynum's work centers around late-medieval Europe. Her focus on female piety has brought increased attention to the role of women in medieval Europe.

Works

* ''Dissimilar Similitudes: Devotional Objects in Late Medieval Europe'' (New York: Zone Books, 2020). * ''Christian Materiality: An Essay on Religion in Late Medieval Europe'' (New York: Zone Books, 2011) * ''Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond'' (Philadelphia, 2006), winner of the American Academy of Religion's 2007 Award for Excellence, the 2009 Gründler Prize, and the Haskins Medal of the

in 2011. * ''Metamorphosis and Identity'' (New York: Zone Books, 2005) * ''The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200–1336'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995; revised and expanded 2017); received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize from

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, and the Jacques Barzun Prize of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. * ''Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion ''(New York: Zone Books, 1990), winner of the Trilling Prize for the Best Book by a Columbia Faculty Member and the Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the Analytical-Descriptive Category from the

American Academy of Religion The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association, serving as a profess ...

. * ''Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), winner of the Governor's Writer's Day Award of the State of Washington and the Philip Schaff prize of the American Society of Church History. * ''Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984) * ''Docere verbo et exemplo: An Aspect of Twelfth-Century Spirituality''. Harvard Theological Studies 31 (Missoula: Scholars Press: 1979)

Awards and prizes

* Distinguished Teacher Award from the University of Washington (1981) * Berkshire Prize (1985) * MacArthur Fellowship (1986–1989) * Governor's Writers Day Award (1988) * Philip Schaff Prize (1989) * Trilling Prize (1992) *Membership to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

(1993) *Membership to the

(1995) * Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize (1995) * Barzun Prize (1996) * Columbia University, Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching (1997) * Jefferson Lecturer (1999) * Harvard University, Centennial Medal of the Harvard Graduate School (2001) * Mark van Doren Teaching Award of Columbia College (2002) * American Society of Church History, Distinguished Career Award (2005) * Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion (2007 and 1992) * Gründler Prize (2009) * Haskins Medal (2011) *

Pour le Mérite The (; , ), also informally known as the ''Blue Max'' () after German WWI flying ace Max Immelmann, is an order of merit established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. Separated into two classes, each with their own designs, the was ...

(2012) * Knight Commander's Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

(2013) * Hebrew University, Doctor Honoris Causa (2015) In 2016 Bynum was elected a Fellow of the Ecclesiastical History Society. In July 2017, Bynum was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ...

for the humanities and social sciences.

References

* ''Women Medievalists and the Academy'', Edited by Jane Chance, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005, pp. 995–1006.

External links

Caroline Walker Bynum
at

website (retrieved September 29, 2015).
"From the Medieval to the Modern: A Conversation with Caroline Walker Bynum"
at

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

website (retrieved June 29, 2009).
"Visual Matter: The Materiality of Late Medieval Devotional Images – A presentation by Caroline Walker Bynum"
at the University of Minnesota (retrieved November 19, 2012).

Retrieved April 19, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bynum, Caroline Walker 1941 births Harvard University alumni Institute for Advanced Study faculty Living people MacArthur Fellows Presidents of the American Historical Association University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Columbia University faculty Fasting researchers 21st-century American historians Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) American women medievalists American medievalists 21st-century American women Members of the American Philosophical Society